Alex Bombeck on January 1 became the chief executive officer of North Highland, an Atlanta-headquartered management consulting firm. As the firm approaches its 30th anniversary in April 2022, Bombeck will look to empower the consultancy’s central resource – its people.
The new CEO points to the firm’s strategy of structured flexibility as a unique strength. “Our firm approaches flexibility with intentionality,” Bombeck explained. “We create a framework that empowers the workforce and offers them the guardrails to drive toward shared enterprise goals. We’ve always been the opposite of businesses that are hardwired to do things in a certain way.”
Bombeck also notes that rather than providing a plan and then heading for the exit, North Highland consultants will stick around to tackle implementations alongside clients. “What makes us different from other consulting firms is the intersection of our operating model with the expertise of our people and our culture,” he said. “We not only develop strategies to address our clients’ greatest challenges, we roll up our sleeves alongside them to help with implementation to ensure lasting success.”
Bombeck takes the reins of North Highland from Dan Reardon, who led the firm for the last 17 years and grew the firm from 25 people to over 1,500 employees. Reardon is now executive chair of the board.
Bombeck will look to build on the firm’s positive workplace culture as the consulting talent market continues to tighten. The firm has been ranked as one of the best firms to work for by Consulting Magazine for the last 13 years.
“Our vision for the firm is to have the most enviable culture on the planet,” he said. “We know this will help us continue to attract the best talent and deliver the best work for our clients.”
Bombeck has more than 25 years of experience leading digital innovation, relationship management, analytics, and digital and direct marketing for large organizations. He has deep expertise working with clients to transform organizational and operational processes to support new ways of working, enterprise agility, and collaborative cultures.
He joined North Highland in 2014 as a managing director and group president, leading the firm’s client-facing strategy and sales and demand generation activities. Bombeck has also served as a board member since 2018.
Bombeck previously spent 15 years at ad agency Havas Worldwide, where he was latterly chief digital officer and led digital transformation consulting areas including customer experience, martech, data analytics, and organizational design.
“Through the many roles Alex has had over the years at North Highland, he’s shown he has what it takes to lead us in this ever-changing environment,” Reardon said. “He’s a visionary leader who is also committed to our people enabling others to reach their full potential.”